When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. 2 And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. 3 They had been saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?" 4 When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. 5 As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. 6 But he said to them, "Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you." 8 So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
         

 

Imagine their surprise…

            Who will roll away the stone for us…

Can you see them?

Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James

And Salome with spices for his body.

A body once vibrant with life, once filled

With passion for a radical kind of justice…

Teaching the promise of the kingdom here on earth…

            What were they thinking?

Did they believe that he would still be there

After three days and three nights?

Laying still, breathless…passionless?

 

Who will roll away the stone for us…

 

What did they believe when they saw that young

Man dressed in white…

            Calm, steady at the entrance of an empty tomb.

And what did he say?

            Do not be alarmed;

you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth,

who was crucified.

He has been raised;

he is not here.

…go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you

//do not be alarmed

he is not here.

 

And what did they do?

Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James

And Salome?

 

The gospel writer Mark says:

            They fled…for terror and amazement had seized them

They said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

 

They said nothing to anyone.

            Nothing.

 

What did they believe – saying nothing…?

 

Do you suppose, they waited?

Do you suppose they ever spoke to each other

Of that day?

            Something so tremendous happened and they

Were silent…

What did they believe?

 

//

 

Can it be enough to go and tell no one

To keep it to ourselves

Amazed in silence…

Something tremendous is happening

 

…we can’t afford to be silent.

to say or do nothing…

 

the young man dressed in white

did not say:

            go and wait for a sign

he did not say:

            go and say nothing

he did not say:

            go and be amazed, but afraid

He said: go and tell.

 

//

 

Go and tell.

And maybe we believe that he was not

Speaking to us.

He couldn’t be.

But you see, I believe that he was.

Speaking to us. Here today.

Saying:

            Go and tell.

Go and practice

           

…Jesus was persecuted, crucified

And according to the gospel writer Mark,

He got up on the third day and continued to share

The good news:

            Injustice does not have to triumph

If we believe in speaking truth to power

If we practice:

Loving the world

Loving someone who does not deserve it

practice resurrection…

 

//

 

The gospel is literally the good news

It can not end with silence

            The fulfillment of that good news

Depends, in part, on us

            Yes, US Unitarian Universalists

Depends on us to ask and answer:

            What might be required of us in the

Way of doing justice in this community?

In being agents of love and mercy?

In walking more humbly with our neighbors?¹

 

Depends on us to prophecy 

Depends on us to evangelize…scary right?

            To approach lifeless situations

With wonder:

            Who will help…roll away the stones

Of despair, injustice, apathy?

And once those stones are gone…

            We – who believe –

who come to be free

who come to find comfort

who come to share wisdom

who come to find compassionate community with

its moments of struggle

            must tell.

Tell. ///

 

UU minister Robert W. Karman says²:

            Hardly a soul seeks out and joins

A congregation because it gives away food

Baskets or because it has a big net worth

Or owns a great building or has thousands of

People in attendance.

We do not gather, he says, with the thought in

Mind to balance the budget…

We do not come to worship to [fix sound systems, or

Create storage space]…

 

We come because we believe something

Tremendous and life giving is happening

 

//

 

So go…

 

Tell without fear, without worry that we believe

            That our faith

Our community matters

 it is a place of spirit

Of forgiveness

Of compassion

Of powerful and enduring friendship

 

our community of faith is one of

Courage and transforming love

 

A place where we can face the times of our

Lives with honesty

 

 

Tell

that we are about liberation from fear

We are about giving the depth of our hearts

To those with whom we would very much want

To share them.

 

Tell

            That our task is to set free forces of love

And justice that may scare as much as they might delight.

 

Tell that we believe in resurrection

           

[From Robert Karman’s essay]

 We believe that:

Our task is not to idolize and love god

It is to love one another in just relationship

So that we make the love of god a reality

And not a desperate dream or a painful

Despair.³

           

We believe that:

It is in our ability to be a human community of peace

And to do what is good and right.⁴

           

We believe that:

Our task is to heal, and to inspire, to open and to remake,

And thus change what is sorry to what is joy.⁵     

 

The quality of love and goodness we expose from our

Sometimes reluctant hearts will change the world⁶

And that is the resurrection we will tell about

We will practice

            We will live

 

It is not enough to see and believe and be silent.

If you have experienced and believe that the transforming power of

Love lives and breathes in the midst of your community of faith

 

Go, says the gospel writer, and tell.